(Brille/Remote Control)

Enigmatic disco duo craft seductive debut

Listening to The Golden Filter’s debut is not unlike leafing through an issue of Frankie or Nylon magazine – the New York duo’s dreamy, drone-y music brings to mind a world of lithe, willowy girls and boys who spend their sunny Sundays luxuriating in the park, browsing in vintage clothing stores and washing down cupcakes and cigarettes with sloe gin martinis. The band’s music taps into the current fad for washed-out, synth-based pop, but also displays a distinct nostalgia for the high-energy disco sound of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, the kind of sound that Goldfrapp explored to great effect on their last album, Head First. Like Alison Goldfrapp, Penelope Trappes has the kind of voice that’s perfectly suited to electronic music, switching from sweet one minute to sinister the next, hinting at all sorts of mystery and intrigue below the surface. Trappes has an excellent foil in synth programmer Stephen Hindman, who gives her propulsive disco bass lines on Look Me In The Eye and Solid Gold and swooning, dramatic strings on Dance Around The Fire and shivering ballad Nerida’s Gone. The Golden Filter’s debut invites repeated listens, and reveals its charms slowly and seductively; it’s definitely one of the year’s stand-out releases so far.

****½

ALASDAIR DUNCAN

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